January Goals in Review:

1) Continue quilting Sampler quilt [Didn't really]
2) Finish Pooh piece (minus the name/date part)[DONE]
3) Get supplies and mail out RR by Feb. 1st [Ready to mail!]
4) Finish Oregano and Chives on Herbal Sampler (at work)[FINISHED COMPLETELY]
5) Start SAL sampler in silk on linen/evenweave [Not going to stitch]

I'd say I did well, I started a NEW quilt (the ohio stars) with my mom so the sampler quilt kinda got put on hold but I will think about taking that out again.

FINISHED!!! I finished Herbal Sampler yesterday! And I have pictures ;) I'm on a role!


Heheheh it took 31 hours total but it's done and now I can get it framed!

And my progress at 37.5 hours on Mystic Sampler:


And I finished block 3 of my ohio stars (and started block four but here's a pic of the third:)


What a productive weekend I really must say. Not so much friday night as I vaguely remember going to bed early after playing some civ 3 but falling asleep playing. Saturday was very relaxing, and I got some work done on the website, worked on my ohio star blocks and watched Raising Helen - very good movie. Then we went to the Blue Ginger which was excellent, for my work holiday party. Ming Tsai came out and greeted us as well and asked us to watch food network "Iron Chef America" sunday at 9 because he was on.
Sunday we slept in again, got our grocery shopping done which took a whole hour, then more work on the website, more quilting work and then some stitching while watching tv. We did catch part of Iron Chef during L&O Criminal Intent commercials and Ming won which was very cool to watch :)

So amidst all this I finished Herbal Sampler - I am so happy about that. I also got my Round Robin all kitted up and ready to be mailed out tomorrow, and I picked out a precious moments pattern to stitch for Grace for a charity quilt (Cole's Quilts). So I can start on that once I get the fabric and thread out (I must also put away all the threads from my round robin now). Oh and it's the end of the month - time to check how I did with my goals!

Oh I can't wait to put up new progress pics next week! Yesterday was a good day for stitching. After my lunch break today I will have hit 38 hours for the month stitching - which will be tied for the most stitching in a month with Oct. 2003 (i'm a real control freak and I have all my stitching time charted out in excel. I do plan to start keeping track of my quilting time as well. It does help with estimating how long a new project will take.

So I worked an hour on Herbal Sampler at work and at stitch night i worked on the Mystic piece, mostly i talked though so not a lot got done but I bought the colors that I was almost out of so I'm all set and should be able to finish it now. Even better, we have ANOTHER stitch night next thursday! And I brought in my herbal sampler to see how much it would cost to get framed (just framed with no glass or mat), it looks to cost about 50 dollars, there about. I am mulling it over, it's not outrageous for sure, because it's a decent size piece (5x16 or there abouts). Plus it would come out great for sure.

I also made it to the gym after my stitch night which is impressive as I hadn't had dinner or anything since lunch time. I walked mostly but ran about a mile on the treadmill then went home and had cereal before folding laundry (hate that), doing dishes and just crashing in bed.

Before my stitch night I stopped by my fabric store and bought a bunch of cotton thread for hand piecing my ohio star quilt. I really need one of those racks that hold thread or a case or something now that i have such a collection. I should have enough colors for this quilt now so no more excuses, i must focus on this quilt when home.

I'm really glad it's friday but i have a feeling the day will drag. Then tonight I have to go grocery shopping and to the gym. Maybe after that we'll relax with a movie and I can sew. Tomorrow I have to work on the website and maybe go to the mall to buy a skirt for my work dinner at 7:30. Sunday no plans so hopefully more website work, and quilting/movie watching. If my boyfriend has too much work (which is likely) i can always start watching sex and the city season 5 that I bought, i also have season 4 to brush up on the end of the season since i watched 1-4 a few years ago.

I am anticipating a relaxing weekend where I feel like I dont' have enough time to just enjoy myself and my quilting or stitching, i'm going to feel like i'm on the go constantly which is wierd since I won't really be. The key is to not sleep in till 11/12 but get up around 8 or 9 and at least read a bit in my warm cozy bed. Alright - work time - i need some hot chocolate!

So far this month - cross stitched: 35 hours

I should start keeping track of my quilting time which would include cutting, piecing and quilting.... next month.

Yea lots of stitching,
No stitching at work yesterday since I left early, i still have to make up an hour but I didn't want to drive in the dark and snow so I just drove in the snow and left early.
I did stitch at my aunt's however and a good deal too, I stitched maybe 3 hours and I finished band 14 and 15. 15 was just a modified shell stitch row, and I took out three of the stitches in the center and did my initials, you really can't see them since the color of the thread does not stand out but that's what I wanted anyway, for them to be hidden. Then I started row 16 but ran out of the Terra Cotta - this is the 3rd color there wasn't enough of in the kit, luckily tonight is a night at my LNS so I can buy some, i already bought more of the other two colors ran out of.
So what's left :
Row 16 - pumpkins and apples with a basket (mostly cross stitch)
Row 17 - flowers, mostly cross stitch
Row 18 - long arm cross stitch
Row 19 - house with trees, mostly cross stitch, large band though
Row 11 - finish bee hives with color i ran out of
Row 9 - Hungarian stitched mountains and church stitched over 1 - tough row for sure.
That's it though, then I'll be done with it - Best estimate - done by the end of march.

Other than that nothing much last night, ate dinner and watched men in black while stitching. But it's Thursday so it's Bagel day - i must go eat bagel :)

More SNOW!
It's snowing wildly out today! Another 5-7 inches I believe coming today. It took me twice as long to get to work today and I will probably leave a bit early and just charge an hour vacation time or something so I dont' have to drive in the dark and snow! Luckily tonight i'm going to my aunt's so it's close.

Last night was awesome! I went to the guild meeting and joined the guild, they had a speaker: Ruth McDowell who does art quilts... she is amazing and her quilts are amazing. Some day i'd love to make one in her style if i could take a class. The next time she'll be in the area is some time in 2006 i think she said and her classes are generally 4-5 days, i wonder how much they cost!
Anyhow, so she was the speaker and she showed a slide show with pictures of her quilts, it was unforgettable, i wish i had known what i was going to see i may have tried to get my mom out here to go to the meeting as well. I'll have to call her today and let her know all about it.

Stitching: Besides the gold border color my Herbal Sampler is finished now. I won't work on it today as I'd like to leave early but I will probably bring it to my stitch night tomorrow night and i'll bring it to show my aunt tonight too. I anticipate needing a while maybe a week to finish the border so maybe by next friday that will be done and Mystic will be my work piece after that. Tonight I will work on Mystic some more at my aunt's.

Before going to the guild thing I tried going to the gym - it was packed beyond belief so i went home and ate some dinner and cut out another ohio star block to piece. It only takes about 15 minutes to cut the block pieces after they're traced already which is nice. I still need thread though so tomorrow I will be making a stop at fabric corner to expand my hand sewing thread collection for sure!

February at guild is - Anne Gallo and Sue Rabin, i'll have to look up who they are and what they may be discussing, see if mom wants to come out at all, it's not easy on a tuesday night but if i had known what ruth mcdowell was doing i would have convinced her! Well - almost 10 and work is calling :)

I couldn't resist, this was over in Carol's Blog and I had to take it:

Well yesterday was definately a packed day. I left work at the regular time (oh and I did fit in my 30 minutes of stitching at lunch on Herbal Sampler). Then I went to target to buy baby gifts for the girl at work and my new aunt. My boyfriend met me at target and we went to the mall so he could buy a coat to wear with his suit today (interview). Then we got dinner and I did a bit more shopping after he left. When I got home we went to the gym and I ran - I actually ran for 20 out of 35 minutes on the treadmill which is more than usual. We got home around 9:30 - and I was tired! I had to look up some subway information for my boyfriend though before I could go to sleep.

And this morning my boyfriend got up at 6 with me and he went to the gym to go running! Crazy man! Then he'll go to the gym tonight to lift (same as yesterday). I'm lucky to make it once a day a few days a week - he's going twice now!

I gave my coworker her baby gifts, the Pooh piece I stitched for her and a few baby outfits I bought yesterday. She really liked them. The stitched piece is still awaiting baby's arrival so it will have the name and date/weight on it and then be made into a wall hanging.

Tonight I have a guild meeting in Arlington that I'm looking forward to since I'll actually know a few people there. Tomorrow night is the night at my aunt's, Thursday is stitch night, Friday i may babysit, not sure yet and saturday night is my work's holiday party. I'm booked for sure :)

I really need to work on the website but I really have no time right now - and January is almost over, I wanted to be done by now. Of course I haven't done much so it looks like work will continue through february at least. I really have some quilting I want to do, maybe tonight I can cut out more ohio stars so I can piece another one at my aunt's tomorrow (start piecing not finish one).

Well - work is calling my name. Today at lunch another half hour on herbal sampler, besides the border I will have it finished I think!

Blizzard of 2005...

Well this weekend surely didn't go as planned. Friday night my boyfriend and I went and got some movies from Hollywood video, he really wanted to see Forgotten so we rented that and then bought 3 others under their 3 for 30 dollars deal. Forgotten was good but not great - and I am definately not used to short movies (1 1/2 hours versus 2 hours) but Stepford Wives was funny.

Saturday we decided to cancel plans of travel due to impending storm conditions, so we went grocery shopping and then I made some lunch and we settled in to play Civ 3 Conquests for the rest of the day - break for dinner - then more Civ until bedtime - what a waste of a day but it was nice :)

Sunday finally I got a bit motivated, my boyfriend went out and shoveled the 2+ft of snow we had because the landlord's snowblower wasn't working and I cleaned the apartment finally. I didn't manage to work on the website because there's research work to do not programming and I wasn't motivated to sit and read websites. So I got out my quilting and watched Spiderman while working on my ohio star quilt. Then I cooked dinner and watched Spiderman 2 while continueing work on the stars. So now I have 2 finished stars and a third started and 2 more ready to cut (they're traced).
Blocks finished so far:


And some progress pics from the week of cross stitch (I also updated the sidebar:

Mystic Sampler - now at 33 hours!


And Herbal Sampler now at 26 hours and almost complete (picture quality is bad because it's a camera pic not a scan now that it's so large:

I write a lot - every week day actually. I'm surprised anyone at all reads this, boring accounts of my life, exactly what I'm doing, what I stitched etc. What I've noticed through writing daily is how much of a list person I am. A few times a month I write a list of things I will be doing, or a list of things I must get done, or things I will stitch etc. But - not a surprise to me, I'm an engineer.

Anyhow - last night I had every intention of going to the gym, we went, we walked around and not a single machine was open! I guess going at 6pm is ruled out from now on! What a waste. So I made dinner and we watched tv together for a bit. Then I cut out some ohio star pieces from my fabrics while The OC was on. After that I cut my boyfriend's hair and he went to the gym - at 10:15pm! No way for me! That's bed time. So I started piecing another ohio star but only did 3 seams and called it quits for the night.

So no stitching yesterday (due to doctor appt at lunch). Today however I will stitch some more on Herbal Sampler - working on the word "Herbs" on top. Hopefully I will remember to bring it home so I can get a scan of it. I also need to scan an update of my Mystic Sampler since I've made such good progress. This month has been a stitching month for sure - mostly because quilting is back to a back seat again now that my class is over. That has been taking all my time the last few months. Somewhere there is a happy medium.

Snow is coming --- not good for our drive back to NY that's for sure, I will have to keep an eye on this storm. Maybe it's not such a good idea, I have decided we won't go in the morning because my mom will be gone anyway, so we'll probably leave around lunch, go to said party for friend back from Iraq, then maybe stop and see mom before heading home. Maybe going anywhere with snow is a bad idea and I can convince my boyfriend to just stay home.

Oh and my MIL (otherwise known as check engine light in any other car) came on yesterday.. strange it came on at exactly 3000 from when I bought the car... oil change indicator? Better not be - I plan on changing my own oil and I'm not bringing it in for them to turn the light off every time! So I'm awaiting a phone call from them before lunch or else I'll call again and pester more!

Doctor appt. went well yesterday, generally I'm healthy, she checked out everything I had mentioned in my packet and my wrist problems, where my wrists get sore from a long day of typing and then stitching, she said is not something like arthritis (which would be scary at my age), but more like tendonitis, strain on the wrists and I should be fine if I just stretch my wrists every hour... so I need to ease up on those 4 hours stitch sessions :) Yea right... but at least I recoup after a day or two if I do over strain :)

What's in store for this weekend (another list that I know I've already done but it's friday so...)
Website - I must work on the website, integrating the UPS tracking and such to orders.
Quilting - I want to piece some more Ohio Star blocks, and maybe cut some more now that I know I can do that sitting on my bed watching tv :)
Stitching? Not really much - maybe a bit here or there one evening but I am ready for a weekend break, I have a stitch night next thursday, maybe I will start my precious moments before then, maybe not.
Sewing - Maybe I'll get out a pattern and read through it, make sure I have everything I need and such for it, choose the simplest one and all. take measurements, find out if i need more tools or anything. I do have one more pillow to make for the couches now that I have the pillow form I like (it's short and long instead of square like the other two).
Read - Yes - some more of the Peppered Moth by Drapple... it's a "boring" one, not boring per se but it is not attention grabbing so it's tough to get through. I do need to finish it, i'm halfway done. I can't not finish a book unless it's REALLY REALLY bad -- only happened once to me, the book was called Schooling -- just to warn anyone who may pick it up. I couldn't read it, surely it was written in an artistic, poetic way but I couldn't stand more than a few pages of random thoughts on paper, half sentences, it's hard enough listening to my own thoughts ramble, i don't need someone else's wandering mind to fill my time!

Well back to work - almost time to bug the Audi dealer again. Today will be a productive day for sure :)

Thursday has arrived. I was going to babysit tonight but it turns out the baby is not feeling well, so I am not. I'm pretty weak from not eating yesterday until a bit at dinner so that's just as well. I did eat a bagel for breakfast though and had some tea so I am feeling better, can handle food now, just still weak, it was really hard to stand up in the shower, my knees were shaky.

My boyfriend is feeling much better, i believe he made it to school today. Maybe we can go to the gym tonight even, I will be weak but I could at least walk a bit.

I worked more on Mystic Sampler last night, finishing up the running stitch and most of the wave stitch for the ocean/harbor scene. That leaves the boats and seagulls which is nice. I didn't bring my stitching bag in for lunch because i have a doctor appt. today which takes my lunch time. Yesterday at lunch I did stitch for a half hour though and finished the stitching of one bottle, just backstitching left on that bottle and the other bottle left. I originally planned to do both bottles by friday but I think I need to finish the word Herbs before doing the other bottle to get the placement correctly. So tomorrow I will finish this bottle and work on the word. Next week I'll hopefully remember to bring my gold in to do the border.

Looks like this weekend is filling up fast. Tomorrow not so bad, work then work on the website, saturday we'll leave early and head to my parents where i can share fabric with my mom and maybe cut out some more ohio star blocks to start piecing. Then we'll go to a party for our friend back from Iraq. After that head back home so I will have sunday to work on the website and then relax (stitching/quilting - hopefully quilting actually).

Yesterday was very relaxing. I went to my aunt's, helped prepare dinner, stitched a bit, ate dinner, stitched some more. Let's see - 2 hours maybe total of stitching (with interruptions). I did manage to stay awake through law and order which surprised me, i thought i'd be sleeping by 8. I slept real well though and I feel good today, going to get lots of work done :)

Speaking of work - time to get started.

No Guild. My poor boyfriend was sick last night, he thinks it was something he ate not the flu and i'm hoping that too so I won't get sick. Anyway I got home and gave him some medicine and we just settled in to watch some Profiler episodes. He insisted I go to my guild thing but it's only the auction anyway, best not to spend money, i can just go next month when I can actually join. Plus I won't see him again till Friday so even if he was sick it was nice to hang out with him.

And - stitching! I did a lot of that. I worked on Mystic Sampler a lot, probably 3 hours I'd say (maybe 4) I finished the row with whales and birds stitched over 1 and fish satin stitched. Then I started filling in more of the water that is stitched with a running stitch. I forgot to grab the thread I bought Thursday of the colors I will run out of, so unfortunately I will have to hold off on those colors tonight and stitch elsewhere. That means I still can't finish the bee hives (missing color) and i'm sure the water can't get finished either. (another color almost used up).

So what is left on this mystic sampler:
-Finish the bee hives with missing color (that row is almost done). row 11
-Do the row with the mountains which takes concentration.... so I can't be watching tv. Maybe I'll work on that part tonight. row 9
-Finish the water then add the boats and birds for row 14
- row 15 - modified shell stitch - add in name here too
- row 16 mostly cross stitch - pumpkins and basket
- row 17 again mostly cross stitch - flowers
- row 18 long arm cross stitch maybe (real easy)
- row 19 house scene mostly cross stitch
That's it. I'm definately more than half way done and row 13 which is done was probably the hardest row so pretty much i have an easy streen left. No more stitching over 1 for the most part and all is well :)

Herbal Sampler - got a bit of work yesterday at lunch. I finished Basil, definately some parts I messed up but i think i hid them well and no one will notice. all I have left on that is to finish the "ERBS" and then the two bottles by the word HERBS and then the border which I can't start until I get the color needed from home. Maybe today I'll start the bottles since I dislike those the most. Probaby by friday i can finish the bottles - no stitching thursday so that leaves today and friday.. i think i can i think i can :) Finish this piece this month is way beyond my expectations and goals for the month.. then I can work on Mystic at work next month and start the Precious Moments for Cole's Quilts as my focus piece at home.

Can you tell I'm in a stitching mood? I have some work to do now... I wish my stomach wasn't feeling upset from not eating, i was paranoid i'd be sick so i didn't eat dinner last night. Now I have hunger pains but i am still paranoid so eating makes me feel sick. I really am demented!

Guild tonight.

I am tired. I surely didn't wake up the same way this morning as I did yesterday. I hit snooze (twice) but still managed to leave before 7 so got to work early enough to have a regular schedule. I generally take an hour lunch (to stitch as much as I can) and leave around 4:30. Yesterday was a LONG day - I was here till 6:15 - 11 hours with an hour lunch. Luckily we have flex time so I can just leave a little earl some day this week. I won't leave 2 hours early but maybe a day or two I'll leave a half hour early. Thursday I have a doctor appt that will most likely take up more than an hour lunch break so that's another half hour.

Last night I got home before 7 and woke up at 8 :) I was tired and not feeling 100%. But then I worked on the website and made great progress, finishing the things I wanted to do. After that I just did my nightly routine and watched the end of a history channel thing my boyfriend was watching about the Terror in France.

So last night was a bore, but tonight I will hopefully hit the gym, then go to the new guild meeting - just need to remember to print out directions. This meeting is open to the public with an auction for Breast Cancer funding, if i like it and go next month I can join the guild at half the yearly price. So I will check this out and see.
Tomorrow night I go to my uncle's and thursday i might babysit for my other uncle. I should email him and find out.

So probably no stitching until Wednesday at my aunt and uncle's - I will stick to stitching until I have time to start my amish quilt probably. I did finish my first Ohio Star block for my new quilt 12 more to go, i just have to figure out what fabrics I want to use.
That brings up another thing - I may go home this saturday for the day to visit my mom and swap fabrics for our quilt. I have to see how the week goes first, i kinda want a weekend with no traveling or plans .. i guess next weekend isn't too packed, just a holiday party for work. Okay - breakfast time...

WIP UPDATE:


This is 27.5 hours progress on Mystic Sampler by Jeannette Douglas.


This is 24.5 hours progress on Herbal Sampler.
This is only the top part, the bottom row got cut off by the scanner. When this is complete I'll have to use the camera instead of the scanner to take a picture.

My weekend:
Well Friday I had good intentions but ended up going home and just relaxing, I stitched a little while watching profiler episodes but pretty much did nothing. Saturday I got some work on the website done finally, then my boyfriend and I went to the gym and then up to my uncle's for the night where we played with the kids and then played Battlefield Vietnam all night.
Sunday we left pretty early and then again managed to do nothing really. Actually we watched the extended Lord of the Rings the Two Towers while I stitched on Mystic Sampler - so that was a good 4 hours :) After that I did work on the website some more. Unfortunately the night ended badly, but I don't generally write about personal ongoings so I'll leave it at that.
I washed all of my new fabrics that I got (friday was a trip to JoAnn's for fabric), man do I have a lot now! I ironed as many as I could but it was boring so I only got through about half. I have 2 fabrics that I bought 2 yards of each that i could use to make a skirt, I bought 5 patterns of skirts too. I also bought a ton of fat quarters of possible fabrics for the ohio star quilt so those I ironed so I can pick out what ones I want to use.
One nice thing - this morning at 6 am when the alarm went off, at first I thought it was 2am or something but as soon as I realized it was 6 I just got up and got ready - I wasn't dragging myself for a change, but I did sleep rather well so that probably helped. The bad news is that I didn't have to get up so early today - I was going to come to work an hour late because I have a meeting that will run late today... but I decided I'd rather spend more time at work than sit in bed just thinking. Unfortunately working doesn't stop the thinking...

Stitch Night at my LNS...

Oh how I love it :) I treated myself finally to Celtic Banner - which I found out is mostly stitched in DMC so it won't be too expensive, only the border? is in other threads. So I need to figure out what fabric to get and get some scroll rods. The owner of the LNS finished this piece already and it's been hanging in her shop, her cousin I believe also did it but changed the colors to greens and that was hanging for a while - and I love it that way so I got the conversion and will stitch it in green ;) Now to pick fabric ...

I also spent a ton on threads needed for my RR that's mailing out Feb 1st? I won't need the full skeins I bought so I'll probably make up a project card or something and keep the rest in case I need them elsewhere.

Other than that I worked on Mystic Samper, finishing the row of grapes (finding an error I made but I don't think anyone will notice..) This is actually the second error in the grapes, the first I did wednesday night, this error i found was from the retreat I had miscounted but I can make due. Then I finished the maple leaves.

The next line on Mystic Sampler is of rolling hills, it's really a tough part to do because it's not really charted out exactly, it will take some concentration so maybe I can get that done this weekend.

So - I can't start Celtic Banner until after Herbal Sampler is at least finished. Then Mystic Sampler will become my work piece and Celtic Banner can be started - while waiting to start however I will probably get out the peice for my boyfriend and maybe make some progress on it :) In an ideal world I could get that one done by christmas this year.

Well it's warm and rainy out today - I like the warm, don't love the rain but I'm couped up in an air conditioned building anyway so I best get some work done so I don't start wishing I was going home already... just got here ;)

On the agenda tonight - stop at walmart, and then at joanns for fabric. Then work on website.
Tomorrow - quilt??? Go to my uncle's for the night.
Sunday- work on website, cross stitch...

Just think if i didn't have the website to work on I'd have SO much time to stitch and quilt that i wouldn't ever feel like I wish I had more time :)

While I have a few minutes I think I'll add some stuff to my sidebar -- a "currently stitching" pic and anything else I think of.

Last night was great, I mostly just stitched, I worked on the Mystic Sampler and got about 2 1/2 hours in, finishing it down to the grapes which are almost done too. The best part about it right now is that I've already started most of the lines so it's a matter of finishing them and feeling that sense of accomplishment for each line finished.

Tonight I have my stitch night so even more stitching will get done on it :) I figure I'll finish the grape vines and maybe the maple leaves too. I somehow need to fit in a trip to the gym tonight too - we'll see how that goes.

At work I've moved over to using a linux machine, still running windows on top for email purposes but I'm liking xwindows and all my work is actually in linux so this may be a permanent thing for me. Now if only I could get my mouse scroll button working on linux, that's driving me a bit crazy!

Off to update the side bar a bit... need to find the address for my images...

Kind of a regular thing now - afternoon Update:

I stitched for a half hour on Herbal Sampler, I finished the spoon next to the word Basil and started the words above, that way I could count out what was left and it will fit, even with 2 inches on top possibly. I will still sew muslin on the top and bottom to aid in framing since I'd like to lace this piece but it's nice to know it will all fit.

Tomorrow I will start the herb basil after doing some more of the wording which is all backstitching until the top word "Herb".

I need to pick up a few colors from home, I need 3 I dont' have at work to finish and I need to find the variagate to use on the border around the whole thing, i want it to match the one used for the individual herb blocks which are getting made into a quilt now (2 quilts).

I come with pictures today....

First my completed Winnie the Pooh piece for a coworker...

This took 26 hours to complete - and who says I never FINISH anything ;)

And my current progress on the Mystic Retreat Sampler:

This is 19.5 hours of progress.

Last night was busy -- I got home, read the new Stitcher's World that had showed up, went to my quilting get together - basically you pay $5, sit around a table, show off your current projects, ask for help if you need it, watch 8 others do the same, then you can shop... this is all afterhours so it works great for someone like me who can't get there when they're open generally.
After getting home around 9 my boyfriend and I went to the gym - thinking it would be empty for a change being so late, we were wrong but at least a few treadmills were open (there are about 30 treadmills). After that I was exhausted and not feeling well, a bit feverish last night for some reason so I curled up and took some tylenol and we watched the end of SVU and fell asleep. It was a busy but seemingly unproductive evening. No stitching, no website, no cooking, nada!

Tonight I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I'm going to my uncles and i've got my cross stitch but maybe I should work on the website. I need to work on the website a lot - but what i really need is a few hours time lumped together... maybe friday night and saturday during the day? That should work. The only other plans I have this weekend are going to Joanns for fabric (sale time) and going to my uncle's in NH saturday night for computer games.

Well I best get some work done so at lunch I can stitch more on Herbal sampler with the missing herb... ho humph, hopefully no one will notice that it's missing anything. And i'm really crossing my fingers that i can fit it all on there even after taking out Chives.. I definately won't have framing room but I can sew extra fabric on for that.

Uh Oh Big Time!!!

How did this happen .. I have no idea. I just realized that I dont' have enough fabric to to the top of my Herbal Sampler to fit it all - and that doesn't even count framing in, no matter what i have to sew muslin or something to the top and bottom to aid in framing. So what to do ... well the only solution I can live with is to take out what I stitched of Chives and instead stitch Basil there... I can't leave out the basil.

So it will be modified, no bottle, no Chives, and Basil the word and herb will be moved to the Chives area, maybe i'll stitch the bottle instead of the spoon too, not sure. This better make it all fit with a little lee-way for sewing on the fabric on the top. Darn and I was looking forward to Chives because they would go so quickly but instead I'm unstitching the word and starting over. UGGGGG!

Enough complaining, it's lunchtime, time to get started and do this already!

Allergies or something today... I won't complain further.

I forgot to do pictures of progress last night. Maybe tonight I will remember to scan my new pieces. Herbal Sampler will have to wait a bit since I leave it at work, but whenever I decide to put it down I will bring it home and scan it in.

No stitching time last night, I did manage to go to the gym again (this is day one of week 2, last week I made it 4 days!). Then I read through my new Amish quilt book a bit before working on the website for a while. I'm settled on which amish quilt I'm going to do, it's the one I originally planned but now I'm sure and I'll bring my book with me to the quilt store tonight with the fabric I already bought and get opinions on how it should be put together and if i need to buy more fabric I can do that too. I'll have to borrow my mom's light box to mark the quilt whenever I see her again which will be a while unless I go home in 2 weeks. However I have other projects to work on without starting the quilting on that one for a bit.

So for this year I will have 3 quilts, my sampler quilt which needs to be finished, the amish quilt which has a deadline of November and the quilt I am now going to do with my mom and her friend which is 13 ohio stars I will piece by hand and then after the quilt top is together it has embroidery through all the borders before any quilting even begins! That will run into next year I'm sure!

Well I need to go send a quick email to someone, figure out what my plans are this weekend. I'm either meeting someone for lunch and xstitch shopping or I'm spending the day with the sewing machine working on the ?amish quilt maybe putting it together and putting the border on mr. pooh :)

Lunch time Update:

I stitched for an hour on Herbal Sampler and finished the Oregano line (which was just a bowl), and started the Chives line (finished the word Chives). For monthly goal I have left to do a spoon on the Chives line and the actual Chives herb which is mostly a few lines of backstitching and a couple x-stitches.

For February I will make Basil my goal and maybe backstitching the words above basil. For March that leaves just the top line (word "Herbs" stitched and 2 bottles). I won't say I'm done after that because I'll still have the border to do but at this rate of a few hours a month (maybe 5 hours a month). I can finish by the end of May maybe ??? Then I'll focus on the Mystic sampler at lunch time and switch my home focus time to my boyfriend's piece (Peaceful Sillhouette).

Stitching wise the only things I'm not accounting for are the Precious Moments piece for Cole's Quilts due in April and my RR which may have a piece in February and another in April probably.

A stitch weekend kinda.

A good weekend anyway. We went back to NY friday night, so I spent friday night with my family and then I finished stitching Pooh while I watched a movie. So he's all finished, just awaiting the baby's arrival and the border fabric to be put on.

Saturday I slept in, made breakfast and spent the day mostly cooking with my sister (we made a lasagna and a boston creme pie), then my mom and I started a quilt together, really she's doing it with a friend but I'm also going to do it only by hand and they're doing it by machine. So I taught her how to piece by hand in case she wanted to do a tablerunner or something small by hand in the same pattern. I'm going to piece all 13 blocks by hand (they're easy - 6 inch ohio stars), then put the top together by machine and do the embroidery. It's going to be a beautiful quilt and I'm going to do it in tans, browns, beige, green and muted colors (maybe a little brick and navy) I don't have cream colors for the backgrounds of the stars so i'll have to make a trip to joann's and get some fabric for it once I've figured out the main colors I want to use.

Sunday after frying a turkey for lunch we headed home which meant more stitching time for me. In the car I broke out It's Winter and started filling in more blue on the top banner. Who knows when this piece will get finished ;) After getting home I pulled out the Mystic Retreat piece and got a couple hours work on that, finishing the tree on the top so now I can move down and finish some of the rows we started at stitcher's hideaway.

I brought the retreat piece to work but I think I will stick to the herbal sampler at work for a bit and the retreat piece will be what I work on at home if I'm not working on my quilt. I have a stitch night thursday so i'll bring the retreat piece there. Tonight though I need to work on the website (which I should have done this weekend but couldn't get myself to).

Pictures coming soon I promise :)

2004 total projects finished - 18.

Not only that but all 18 were started and finished in 2004, 11 of them were for Round Robins and 7 were my own projects.

No WIPs from before 2004 were finished.

Plenty were started and not finished.

Friday - at last.

And i'm out in half an hour headed to this eval thing I have to do for 2 hours. Hopefully it's not boring. Then I'm headed home and will probably work another hour if I can get my laptop to run the software correctly.

Last night was basically work, I went to the gym (3rd day this week), then cooked dinner and downloaded software. I couldn't get the software to work however so I worked on the website instead and watched my show at 8.

I hope tonight after working I can get some stitching time in as I'm not sure I'll get as much as I hoped this weekend. If I have to drive both ways it doesn't look good as the driving time could be spent stitching but my boyfriend I'm sure has law reading stuff to do and I'd like to take my car instead of his so I can hose it off at my parent's house.
Note to self: Don't forget to bring laundry to parents'.

Well at least it's not snowing out as I head up to Andover. I'm going to go eat something to count as lunch so I can then head out and get there on time. Luckily all driving will be during daylight so I get to enjoy the sun that's out today :)

Snow day! Well it's snowing outside anyway, I'm still at work but still - SNOW!

I love having an audi, I was able to drive on unplowed roads to the highway with no problems at all with a foot of snow on the ground. The highway was clear so no problems at all.

It seems it's going to be a quiet day at work today, a lot of people are working from home and not coming in. I came in early so I can leave at 4:30 and not have to make up time tomorrow after leaving for the evaluation thing in Andover.

I stitched a bit last night - 2 hours on Pooh and his butt is done, now I just have a bit on his leg to finish and the grass then some backstitching. Today at lunch it's safe to work on him because the girl it's for is not coming in. So maybe this weekend I can finish Pooh and figure out what I'm going to do for the fabric border since I can add that leaving space for the baby's name and birth date.

I'm still waiting for anyone else to come to work today, it's still early especially considering the snow so i'm sure a few people will come in, so far i've just heard from people who aren't coming in and are working from home.

Well I think i'll go get some water and get some work done, i was doing something important last night and making progress when it was time to go... time flys when things are getting done.

--- Afternoon Update ---

More Pooh stitch - all cross stitching is now finished on Pooh, just need to do some backstitching and then wait until the baby is born to add the name and details. Maybe this weekend I can sew on the fabric border to see how it will look and have it ready to give to her. Yipee!!! Almost DONE!

Change of plans... looks like I'm not going to Andover tomorrow morning but rather friday afternoon. Problem is leaving a bit early friday means I need to make up time... so I'll have to stay a bit later today and tomorrow. Probably I'll stay till 5 today and tomorrow 4:30 with half a lunch break. Today I had a half a pizza so lunch was long :) and no stitching since I was socializing a bit.

But tonight I will relax and stitch for sure, maybe mark the next quilting section on my quilt too but I want to stitch mostly I think. Bugger I am tired - 1.5 hours to go.. but I was right about it being a productive day it has been and I'm sure to get more done before I go :)

Today is going to be a productive day, I can feel it, yesterday was caught up in getting back into the swing of things and getting caught up with stuff, now it's time to focus and get some things done and crossed off my list.

A little progress was made on Pooh at lunch yesterday, probably will work on him more again today at lunch. Holding off on the Herbal Sampler until Pooh is finished I think since there is an end in sight now. After work my boyfriend and I went to the gym (2 days in a row is good), then I worked on the website for 2 hours fixing some problems and then I quilted for 2 hours finishing the inner lattice quilting!

Tonight I go to my aunt's, hopefully do some stitching or quilting after dinner. Tomorrow I have to go to Andover for a 2 hour session then to work which drags my day a bit but if I skip lunch (just use the drive as my lunch) i can still leave around the same time. That means no stitching at lunch tomorrow though.

What it looks like my focus is currently:
Finish Pooh, this goal seems doable so I want to get the main stitching done (the name and date will be added later).
Then work on Herbal Sampler during lunches again
At home I will start the Precious Moments piece for Grace of Cole's Quilts.

Quilting will continue on the Sampler quilt.
Amish quilt will be pieced together maybe the weekend of the 15th, if not maybe i'll put together a different quilt, I want to use the machine again.

I'm off to edit my goals - take the January SAL out of there, it was a nice thought but I'm not a fan of samplers and I have too many pieces I really want to finish to do something I don't love.

Happy New Year!!

I just had a great 4 days off! As always, going backwards... Yesterday I got out the sewing machine my grandmother gave me (it's a singer) and i fixed it, then I made these pillows for my couch.


I then scanned in new updates of my cross stitch progress:
My last finish of 2004 - Shepherd's Bush April -- 5 hours total


And my progress on the Pooh -- 20.5 hours:


Mostly yesterday I quilted, I am almost done quilting the inner lattice on my sampler quilt, I have only about 3 hours of quilting left before I start on the border part. Now that I have a hoop for my quilting it seems easier to maneuver as well.

Okay, now starting with friday, I cleaned - tons - then my sister and her boyfriend showed up and she and I went to JoAnn's to get some sale item stuff. After that I started cooking, I made a few snacks for the night and we ordered pizza and drank. After half of a movie we played cards until midnight. I even managed to stay up another hour later watching L&O SVU.

Saturday was christmas at my uncle's house, I made breakfast then we all went to my uncle's. We had a good time, good food, relaxing, presents. I got a rice cooker which I love and an embroidery stitches book I really wanted. We didn't get home until pretty late and stayed up until 1 again, finishing the movie from the night before.

Sunday we had breakfast and relaxed, then after my sister left I cross stitched and watched more profiler. We went to Bugaboo for dinner and then some more stitching. It was really a great 4 days off and now I have 4 days of work until next weekend when i'll be going back home to visit my mom for her birthday. Which reminds me I need to get her a birthday present still.

Hopefully 2005 will be a good year, prosperous, happy, fulfilling and just relaxing. I'm off to a bang with creative tasks, now that the machine is working I can put the amish quilt together myself (i just need to get a pattern because making one myself is not working). Also any other sewing that doesn't need a walking foot I can do myself.
Well - work must get done...

January Goals:

I did very good last month, so lets see if I can do that again:

1) Continue quilting Sampler quilt
2) Finish Pooh piece (minus the name/date part)
3) Get supplies and mail out RR by Feb. 1st
4) Finish Oregano and Chives on Herbal Sampler (at work)
5) Start SAL sampler in silk on linen/evenweave

If Pooh gets finished i may start a new piece... undecided as of yet :)

2005 Goals for the YEAR:

Stitching:
1. Finish Winnie the Pooh for Robin
2. Start/Finish Precious Moments for Grace's quilt
3. Finish Herbal Sampler
4. Finish DD Wisdom (virtue series)
5. Finish Mystic Retreat piece by Jeanette Douglas
6. Start/Finish 2 pickle ornaments for aunt
7. Make progress on piece for Ryan
8. Start a new project
9. Finish It's Winter

Quilting:
1. Quilt and Bind Sampler Quilt
2. Make Amish quilt for boyfriend's sister
3. Finish Herb Quilt
4. Make Pooh Wall hanging for Robin
5. Finish Teapot Quilt?

I'm not sure if those goals are too much or too little. Stitching wise I'm just trying to finish up a lot of active WIPs but I know i'll also start a few new projects during the year that will need to be finished up too so we'll see how things go.